“Family Guy” averted tragedy by bringing back beloved talking pooch Brian in Sunday’s episode after Stewie went back in time to save him from being hit by a car. Some fans saw this coming – perhaps because bringing characters back from the dead is a familiar trope on television. Here’s a look at five other TV deaths that weren’t.

Murdoc on “MacGyver”

Almost every episode MacGyver’s arch-nemesis appeared in ended with his apparent death – by falling down an abandoned mine shaft, driving off a cliff and falling off a mountain – among others – each time screaming “MacGyver!” at the moment of his “death,” only to resurface alive.

Bobby Ewing on “Dallas”

Larry Hagman (left) as J.R. Ewing and Patrick Duffy as Bobby Ewing in a scene from TNT’s “Dallas”Photo: AP

It was all a dream! After Bobby is run over by his scorned sister-in-law Katherine and dies in the hospital from his injuries in the Season Eight finale, ratings for the CBS primetime soap plummeted. So producers wooed star Patrick Duffy back to the show and the season’s storyline was revealed to be a lengthy dream of Bobby’s ex-wife Pam when she awakes to find Bobby in the shower at the end of Season Nine.

David Duchovny played Fox Mulder on Fox’s “The X-Files”Photo: AP

Fox Mulder on “The X-Files”

Mulder is abducted by aliens in the Season Seven finale and returns in Season Eight dead, having been infected by an alien virus. When his body is dug up in Season Eight, it is found that he still has weak vital signs, and Scully is eventually able to save him.

Bart Bass on “Gossip Girl”

Chuck’s real estate magnate father died in a limo crash in Season Two but reappears in Season Five revealing he faked his own death to protect Chuck and his wife Lily van der Woodsen from his enemies who wanted him dead.

Victoria Grayson on “Revenge”

In the Season One finale, the Hamptons’ scheming matriarch got on a plane to Washington, DC to testify against her husband Conrad in the murder of David Clarke. The plane crashes and Victoria is thought dead – until her daughter Charlotte reveals in the Season Two premiere that she’s still alive and in hiding until the government can build up a case against Conrad.